by Brian Lumley
‘THE NATURE OF VAMPIRES: A Possible Explanation of the Wamphyri Lifestyle.
‘The Wamphyri are aggressive, tenacious, territorial, egotistical, ruthless, and unrepentantly evil, and proceed in each mode or mood with passions exaggerated to a degree quite beyond human understanding. By our standards they are deranged.
‘It appears that the symbiont leeches are directly responsible for their hosts’ invariably antagonistic natures: unless the host is made strong, the parasite cannot be certain of its own longevity. Lacking aggression the host would be seen to be weak, easy prey to his contemporaries. And without tenacity or the will to survive, he must fail. If territory exists for the taking, a vampire will take it; extending his boundaries makes a Lord safer within his own sphere of jurisdiction. And as for ruthlessness: since the driving instinct of the leech is survival, the question of law and order
— and especially justice — never arises. Might is the only right. The “evil” of the Great Vampire springs naturally from all of his other vices. An intelligent being may not be aggressive, ruthless and territorial — and of course a merciless killer — without being unrepentantly evil.
‘As for the vampire’s ego: that becomes glaringly evident in the pride he takes in his evil. According to Szgany legends, the first of the Wamphyri was Shaitan — in our world, Satan. And pride (or ego, as we understand it) was his downfall, too.
‘It will have been noticed that the above vices are identical with Man’s, forming in the main our definition of evil. In that respect it should also be pointed out that the vampire has no recognition of evil. “Regret”, “shame” or “guilt” are in all probability words that he does not accept, or emotions which — if experienced at all
— are held in abeyance by his parasite.
‘As for any comparison with Man’s evil: the scale of difference
— the enormity of the gap between ours and the vampire’s capacity for evil — simply does not allow for comparison. Vampires are in themselves the Ultimate Evil.
‘DISEASES and VULNERABILITIES:
‘The Wamphyri shrug off most diseases common to man; their leeches produce antibodies to order. There is one ailment, however, whose morbid encroachment may only be delayed by the symbiont’s healing powers and the host’s protoplasmic DNA. Leprosy, “the bane of vampires,” disfigures and kills them no less than it kills wholly human beings, but the disease’s progression is usually far slower in the Wamphyri. The symbiont is itself susceptible to the disease, and once the infection breaks through a vampire’s resistance to infect the leech the process becomes irreversible and the True Death results.
‘Silver is a poison to the Wamphyri. The mythical “silver cross” may well turn aside or stay a vampire’s hand, but not by virtue of any mysterious religious power in the cross. The silver itself is the deterrent and may not be considered a “supernatural” element in this regard but simply a poison to the Wamphyri, much as mercury, lead, and plutonium are poisons to Man. But it does more nearly compare with plutonium in this respect, as it is quite deadly when used correctly. (NOTE: In E-Branch, while the supernatural is never scorned, neither is it accepted until scientific explanations have been ruled out.)
‘Silver will sear the vampire’s flesh. Wounded with a silver knife, the wound will take longer to heal and leave a permanent scar. Injected internally, as by a shotgun using silver shot, or a gun firing silver bullets, it will cripple and even kill. Vampire flesh damaged by silver in this way must be shed and new flesh manufactured by a protoplasmic process.
‘Garlic is also a poison. And once again, no supernatural reason is attached; garlic is simply poisonous to the vampire, even as various fungi, poisoned ivy, and many fruits and vegetables are poisonous to Man. The smell of garlic, offensive to many humans, is emetic to the vampire; its oil will sting him, causing his flesh to slough; taken internally, if it does not kill him it will certainly damage organs and make it difficult for the symbiont to effect repairs. The Szgany of Sunside make extensive use of garlic, not only in their cooking but also as a poison with which to daub their crossbow bolts.
‘Nevertheless — and despite the fact that silver is by no means rare and garlic is plentiful on Sunside — still the Wamphyri have been a scourge among the Szgany from time immemorial to the most recent of times…
‘THE SZGANY: How They Relate to the Vampire.
‘The Szgany (Travellers, Romers, or Romany) are so called because they are kept on the move by Wamphyri raiders who come nightly into Sunside to hunt. The Szgany are their prey, their livelihood, their sole means of survival and continuity. Without the Szgany there would be no Wamphyri, for the leech would never have had access to humanity and the means to rise above the intelligence level of, say, a dog or a wolf.
‘The Szgany provide sport, and women for the Lords of the Wamphyri and men for their Ladies. Szgany blood is the staple diet of Starside’s vampires; their flesh feeds vampire beasts; even their skins, bones, and hair are fashioned into furniture or decorations for the manses of their persecutors. The Szgany are to the Wamphyri of Starside as the coconut to the 20th Century South Sea Islanders: useful in every part, with little or nothing going to waste.
‘But when the Szgany are no longer of use as lieutenants, concubines or thralls, then they are drained of their blood and butchered, and all unappetizing parts ground down for “the provisioning,” as meal for the flying creatures and warrior beasts of their masters…
‘WAMPHYRI ESP, AND OTHER “SUPERNATURAL” SKILLS:
‘Most Lords and Ladies of the Wamphyri are to some extent telepathic. In addition to being physically stronger than entirely human beings (in an approximate ratio of four or more to one), their sensory skills have also been enhanced — including several “sixth” or higher senses as defined by E-Branch. It is therefore fortunate that their intelligence has not been enhanced; their symbionts can only make use of what native intelligence was there to begin with, and ruthlessness and deviousness must compensate for the simplicity of the peasant mind, a lack of learning which, ironically, has come about as a direct result of centuries of Wamphyri predation!
‘On the other hand and in response to Wamphyri ESP — and apparently as a process of natural selection — the Szgany are adept at disguising their thoughts; mentally they are equipped to “hide” from the telepathic probes of their hunters. But the “supernatural” abilities of the Wamphyri almost always tip the balance their way, and our science is hard-pressed to find an answer to certain of the Great Vampire’s skills. ‘METAMORPHOSIS:
‘The entire life-cycle of the Wamphyri could be said to be a series of metamorphoses; a constant ongoing mutation is apparent even in the individual specimen. But in certain circumstances the vampire’s spontaneous metamorphosis is theoretically improbable, scientifically baffling, and physically awesome. It is, too, a reality. In battle, the “normal” or “usual” morphology of a Lord of the Wamphyri (the basic structure of his anthropoid form) becomes something else entirely when whatever aspect he has assumed is put aside in favour of his parasite’s best protective armour and weaponry.
‘His flesh stretches, tears, and refashions itself; hands become talons, while jaws elongate fantastically to accommodate teeth or tusks worthy of a sabretooth or wild boar. His usually pale aspect turns grey to leaden as his skin thickens to hide; the wild, feral yellow of his eyes turns from flame to red (as in infrared, perhaps?), especially at night, possibly enhancing his already incredible night-sightedness. And in the fullness of his change, the very sight of him is as a weapon in itself. The closest approximation in Man would be the rage of the berserker — without the berserker’s disregard for his own safety. For over and above all else, survival is uppermost in the vampire’s symbiont-controlled mind.
‘Survival: the basic instinct that quite literally lends a vampire wings. For in certain extremes many of the Wamphyri can so change their shape as to flatten their bodies, lengthen their arms, sprout webbing like the membranes of a bat or
flying squirrel, and form aerofoils to support their weight or at least allow for gliding. And the most adept of all are capable of controlled flight and aerial manoeuvres. In this respect it seems reasonable to suspect that there is something of the bat about them. There are giant bats
in Starside — they are often the watchdogs of the Wamphyri — and if an infected bat with a spore grown to a leech were to bite and pass on its characteristics to a man…?
‘This theory might well account for the sensitive, convolute snout to be found in a great many Lords and Ladies of the Wamphyri; also their night vision and of course their tendency to flight. But what theory or accident of evolution could possibly account for their mist-making? Or is this “simply” another facet of the vampire’s powers of metamorphosis?
‘For when the Great Vampire is in danger — or conversely, when he sets out to creep up on prey or a foe — he can “create” or “call up” a mist to cover his movements. And vampire mist is not the often humid and softly lapping vapour we know but slimy and cold as a cold sweat. And the vampire Lord’s enhanced senses — the normal five along with his telepathic probes — are carried in his mist like electricity in a wire but faster than the speed of light, at the speed of thought.
‘As for the mist itself:
‘It issues from the vampire’s pores, as sweat issues from ours. But the process is brought about through his will. There is a theory, however fanciful, concerning the way in which the earth itself is caused to release its moisture.
‘This theory holds that the vampire mist is some kind of catalyst, as when dry ice is released over a cloud to excite precipitation. But this scarcely explains the volume of such mists as are generated by the Wamphyri…
‘For “HYPNOSIS, ONEIROMANCY, AND OTHER POWERS OF THE WAMPHYRI,’ see also the Appended Notes to 176, E-BRANCH AND OTHER TALENTS…’
This brought Jake to the end of a paragraph a third of the way down a page that was two-thirds blank. Turning the page, he read:
‘A more comprehensive file is in preparation.’
Then nothing more, except perhaps the feeling that he was floating at the centre of a weird sphere of inexplicable understanding…
CHAPTER ELEVEN The Lidesci’s Story
Silently closing the file, Jake started as Liz’s voice reached him through the vacuum of concentration — a zone exclusive to his mind and the words that the file had left mirrored upon it — which had somehow settled about him. ‘Well?’ she said.
And surprising himself, frowning he answered, ‘Where have I read this before? I mean, do I know these things?’ Too late, for the vacuum was dissolving, the familiarity fading. ‘No, of course I don’t.’ And shaking his head, perhaps to clear it, he looked at her.
‘No questions?’ she said, staring hard at him.
‘Should there be?’
Liz shrugged, but not casually. ‘You tell me, Jake. All I can tell you is that for the last half hour you’ve been sitting there like a man in a dream, totally engrossed.’
Learning? ht wondered. Or remembering? But aloud he only said, ‘Well, a couple of questions, maybe.’
‘Like what?’
‘Oh, one or two ambiguities. Anyway, I think I’ve already worked out some of the answers.’
‘Go on/
‘Well/ he said, ‘this file cover, for one thing. It has a few dents in it… it’s obviously not new. In fact, it’s got to be years old. As for this label on the cover, it’s been thumbed to death! But these
pages, I mean the paper itself, is new, and the text has at least one glaring ambiguity/
‘Oh?’
He nodded. ‘It talks about an underground exit in the Carpathian foothills — one underground exit, that is. But it also mentions Gustav Turchin, and how he flooded a Gate in Perchorsk in the Urals/ He frowned again and continued, Tunny, but when I was reading this stuff it seemed to make sense. I don’t know, I seemed to understand. But now I only remember the text/
‘Like… Eureka!’ Liz said. ‘That word on the tip of your tongue. That abrupt but transient flash of insight. It’s there, and it’s gone. Right?’
Jake knew she was fishing — albeit for something he wasn’t able to give her, not yet — and said, ‘Weren’t we talking about Gates?’
‘There are two/ she answered. ‘The one under the Carpatii Meridionali is the original; it occurred naturally and has been there for — well, no one knows how long. It’s like a black hole, or perhaps a grey hole, and its other end comes out in Starside in a vampire world. A long time ago, warrior Lords would throw their conquered enemies into it. It’s how vampires got here in the first place/
Jake accepted that; it felt real, he knew it was so. ‘And the other?’
‘Is man-made/ Liz told him. And settling back, she said, ‘This is how the story goes:
‘Thirty years ago the Americans put one over on the Soviets. A >ig one, that is. And good for them — for us, the whole world — too, because since World War Two the Russians had been bluffing the West right out of its pants. Kennedy was the first US President to call that bluff, over Cuba. Later, Ronald Reagan and Maggie Thatcher would have their say. They just said no. Thatcher was good at that/
‘Said no to what?’ Jake was no historian.
‘To the Russian military build-up/ she answered. ‘To trying to keep up with all of that expenditure on ships, aircraft, bombs, the space race. And so President Reagan or his advisors invented SDI, the Space Defense Initiative.’
‘“Star Wars?’” He remembered that much, at least.
‘Right,’ Liz said. ‘A fantasy scenario if ever there was one. And the Soviets fell for it. Now the boot was on the other foot and eventually their expenditure went over the top. It was probably the beginning of the end for Russian Communism. But in the early ’80s, while they were still financially stable, their top boffins and physicists were tasked to dream up an answer to the USA’s SDI — a programme that didn’t exist except on paper, and very thin paper at that.
‘Well, that’s what Perchorsk was all about. They built a dam across a powerful watercourse in a ravine to give them the hydroelectric power they needed, also to give them some camouflage against the West’s spy satellites — which was something else that didn’t work — and carved out a subterranean complex from the bedrock. They put in an atomic pile to boost the project’s energy requirements, and bingo, they were in business. But they very quickly went out of business.
‘The idea was… I don’t know, some kind of radar? A fan of energy raking the sky, covering all the north-western territories of the then Soviet Union. It was an experiment, but if it had worked they’d have built more complexes just like it as “defensive” measures against incoming missiles or bombers. Hitting that fan would be like running into a brick wall; nothing was going to be able to get through. In effect, a force-screen. Huh! Talk about an “Iron Curtain?” And what price SDI then, eh? Except of course, there was no SDI…
‘… And no force-screen, either. During the first test it backfired, the pile imploded and a new kind of energy — or perhaps a different and extremely primal kind of energy, a different kind of heat — was discovered. And where the pile had been, right at the core of the Perchorsk Complex, there was this… well, this hole. This hole that went right through the wall of our universe.
In Starside the new singularity appeared in close proximity to the original, the “natural” one. So—’
‘—So,’ Jake took it up, ‘when Turchin flooded the Perchorsk complex he drowned both Gates on Starside, making any sort of travel through them impossible.’
She smiled at him. ‘For someone who hasn’t read the files, you figured that out pretty quickly!’ Which gave him pause, because he’d been thinking much the same thing; and again he knew that what she’d told him was so.
But Liz was already going on; ‘Well, there you have it, the answer to at least one of your ambiguities. Now, what about the others?’
‘Just one other/ Jake told her, ‘but a
difficult one. In a way it makes no sense, while in another — in the light of our involvement — it makes too much sense. The file talks about how the Gates were closed, “drowned” by Gustav Turchin, which “guaranteed” Earth’s safety. Similarly, it talks about Harry and Nathan Keogh, father and son, men whom it credits with “destroying” the Wamphyri. But if the world is safe and the danger past, why is all of this information laid out in the present tense? Also, how can it possibly fit with what we saw and did last night?’
Liz nodded. ‘This is the bit you already have the answers for, right? It’s self-explanatory. Well, you’re correct. Those inserts in the file are brand new, hastily prepared, and incomplete. Makeshift replacements for the old text that used to be in the past tense, which is now present tense because—’
‘Because that’s the nature of the problem,’ Jake finished it for her. ‘As we saw last night, it’s here and now. Not left for dead in another world’s past, but alive and well and horribly real in our world’s present. Fine, or not so fine, whichever — but it still doesn’t answer my questions, doesn’t tell me where I fit in.’
Liz tossed her head. ‘I, I, bloody I!’ she said. ‘Is that all you exist for, Jake? You?’ But he could get just as irritated, and:
‘No,’ he rasped. ‘I exist for something else. Something I haven’t finished, that I still have to do and that all of this is pushing to one side.”
‘Jake?’ came a gruff query from out in the morning. ‘Jake Cutter? Is that you in there, huffing and puffing again?’ Lardis Lidesci, his shadow falling across the tent’s doorway.
‘Right on cue,’ Liz snapped. ‘And very welcome. If anyone can answer your questions, Lardis can. He’ll certainly be able to add to your knowledge, anyway. And if nothing else comes of it at least I’ll get a break from your moaning, and find something better to do with all of the valuable time I’m currently wasting on you.”